To Feel Love
by simplyxamazing
Summary: The events that follow episode 2.13; John and Cameron take Riley to the hospital and discover several interesting things, one of them involving the two of them.
1. Chapter 1

The walls were unbearably white and it only brought more attention to the fact that his shirt was soaked in blood. John couldn't remember the last time he had been in a hospital. As a rule, the Connor family typically avoided hospitals. They led to too many questions that couldn't be answered without bringing danger to them and the people around them. Besides that fact, hospitals didn't exactly bring fond memories for John. He knew that they weren't all like the one where his mother had been held captive, but he didn't care. He still had a strong dislike for doctors.

"What was she doing?" Cameron asked, breaking John away from his thoughts. She was sitting painfully straight in the chair beside him, her eyes searching his face for answers.

"What do you mean?" He asked. His voice was tired, as if he hadn't slept in days.

"The razor," she said, "it was covered in blood." She paused for a moment. "She wasn't shaving." She stated factually. John rubbed his temples. He wasn't in the mood for this.

"She was trying…" he began, but couldn't finish. "You wouldn't understand."

Cameron stared at him, unblinking.

"I'm programmed to understand humans," she told him.

"No," John said harshly, "you're programmed to act human, not understand them."

Cameron's gaze left his face and she stared straight ahead at the nurse's desk. He wasn't sure if he had hurt her feelings or not, but then again he never truly believed she had any feelings. That's what he told himself, at least.

"A gun would've been more effective," she stated after a few moments of silence. John looked up at her and began to think that maybe she did understand after all. He chose not to reply to her statement, mainly because he was imagining the scene he would've found if Riley had opted to use a gun.

"Have you ever wanted to die?" she asked calmly. It wasn't the type of question people asked without expressing emotion, but Cameron asked it in the same monotone voice she normally used. John contemplated for a moment.

"Yes," he answered. He hadn't asked to be the savior of the world, and it wasn't a job he had gladly taken. He didn't like the feeling of the weight that had been placed on his shoulders. He was forced to grow up too fast, never knowing a lot of the joys most kids had. His life consisted of robots that looked like humans and being forced to push people away.

"I can't let that happen," Cameron told him. "I'm here to protect John Connor," she stated. "That's my mission."

John nodded.

"I know," he whispered. He buried his face in his hands. He could really use some sleep right about now.

Someone near to him cleared his throat. John looked up to find a doctor with short gray hair staring down at him.

"Are you John?" he asked. John nodded.

"I normally don't do this, but it's a special circumstance and…" the doctor trailed off. "Anyways, Miss Dawson would like to see you."

John nodded and stood up. Immediately, Cameron mimicked his movement.

"I'm his sister," she stated. The doctor nodded and pointed in the direction of the hall.

"She's in room two," he told them. He then left and John slowly made his way to the room. Cameron followed closely behind.

When they entered the room, his attention was immediately focused on the figure lying in the hospital bed. Riley was pale and had tubes in her nose and arms.

"Riley?" John questioned softly. Riley's eyes fluttered open and he noticed they weren't as bright as they normally were.

"Hey," she managed to whisper. John walked close to the bed while Cameron stayed near the door.

"She's dying," Cameron said. John glared at her.

"You don't know that," he said. Riley nodded.

"Yes, she does." She took John's hand lightly in her own. Cameron inched forward.

"There's something you need to know," Riley said. John gave her a questioning look, but said nothing. He was waiting for her to continue.

"I'm from the future," she said. Cameron immediately pulled out a gun and walked towards the bed, but John held out a hand to stop her.

"You said yourself she's dying," he told her. "She's not a threat."

Cameron put the gun back, but remained hostile toward Riley.

"I'm sorry," Riley choked out. "I was sent to distract you, to keep you away from _her_." She gestured toward Cameron.

"But why?" John asked. "Cameron was sent to protect me."

"In the future you're different." Riley tried to explain. "You ignore everyone but her. It's like no one else exists." She paused and looked away from him. "Everyone says you fell in love with her," she whispered. John swallowed.

"But she's a machine," he protested. A tear rolled down Riley's cheek.

"That doesn't mean that she can't feel—or express—love."

A beeping noise came from a machine that was beside her bed.

"Goodbye, John," Riley whispered as her eyes slowly closed. The beeping became more frequent.

"Fix her, damnit!" he yelled at Cameron. Cameron stared unblinkingly at Riley, but didn't move. The doctor from earlier, along with a few nurses, rushed in.

"I think you should leave," the doctor told the both of them. Cameron's head snapped in the direction of John. She walked over, grabbed his arm, and effortlessly pulled him out of the room. As they left, one of the nurses shut the door. John slumped against the door frame. From inside he heard one last, long beep.

"She's dead," Cameron told him as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

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**_let me know if you think i should continue :)_**


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as the pair entered the empty house, John stomped upstairs to his room. Cameron knew enough not to follow him, so she grabbed a mop instead and began cleaning up the pool of blood in the bathroom.

Upstairs, John lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. Too much had happened in the past two hours, and his brain hadn't had enough time to process it. He needed the quiet to think everything through.

He should've trusted Cameron and stayed away from Riley. But he couldn't—she was just too much like him. She made him feel less alone. He now figured out that the reason she had acted so much like him was because she had been educated solely on the subject of him. Whoever had sent her must've been close to his future self.

Riley had been good at least. She wasn't sent to kill him, he could give her that. He wondered if she truly liked him though. John doubted it. The girls he liked never seemed to like him back. That, or they were cyborgs sent from the future.

What Riley had said about Cameron and him—well, he didn't really want to think about it. He was still trying to convince himself that she was just a chunk of metal. This thought, however, was becoming harder and harder to believe.

Downstairs a door slammed and Sarah Connor entered the house. The first thing she noticed was Cameron holding a red stained mop.

"What happened?" Sarah asked. "Is John alright?" She clutched the gun that was resting in her back pocket.

"Riley was from the future." Cameron said. "She's no longer a threat." She dipped the mop in a gray bucket of water before walking back into the bathroom.

Sarah walked forward, peering into the room. The once white tile now held a faint red tint.

"You killed her?" Sarah asked incredulously. Riley was so young, and although she didn't approve of the girl's relationship with her son, she didn't wish her dead.

"No." Cameron stated as she began mopping up the remaining blood. Sarah waited for the rest of Cameron's answer, but like always it didn't come. She began inspecting the bathroom, and stopped when her eyes rested on the sink. A pink razor lay on the edge, the blades completely red. Sarah closed her eyes for a moment, but opened them when she heard Cameron's voice.

"A gun would've been more effective." Cameron told her, just as she had told John earlier. Sarah didn't know how to respond to this statement, and frankly didn't want to, so she turned and walked out of the bathroom. She needed to talk to John and hoped she could get more information out of him than she had just been given.

When she entered his bedroom, he was sitting on the edge of his bed. Sarah sat beside him and put her arm around his shoulder, but he shrugged if off.

"I'm sorry, John," she told him. John scoffed.

"You didn't even like her," he said. He got up and walked to his window.

"I should've known something was wrong with her," he said. "After all I've been through, I should've at least been able to figure out she was sent from the future."

Sarah shook her head.

"There was no way you could've known. Cameron was the only one that suspected anything," she said, trying to comfort him.

John pounded the window with his fist and the noise echoed throughout his room.

"How many more people have to die for me?" he yelled. Sarah looked down at the floor as John walked over to the bed and sat down on the opposite side from Sarah. "I don't want to be the savior of the world," he whispered. Sarah looked up at him.

"You don't have a choice," she said. John scoffed, though he knew she was right. He wouldn't stop fighting as long as he knew he could save innocent people. That was just the kind of person he was.

"I didn't know Skynet sent humans back," Sarah said, referring to Riley.

"Riley wasn't sent by them," John said, "she was sent by someone on our side."

"But Cameron said she was a threat," Sarah replied. John nodded.

"To her maybe," he said. Sarah sighed. She had noticed how Cameron hadn't liked John hanging out with Riley. She almost looked…jealous. But how could that be?

"John, she's a machine," she told her son. John rolled his eyes. He had heard this line countless times, and it was beginning to grow old.

"I know," he stated, annoyed. Sarah stood up and walked over to him.

"Do you?" she asked. John glared at her.

"I'm tired," he told her. He lay back on the bed and turned away from her.

"Fine," Sarah said. She then turned and walked out of his room, closing the door behind her.

When she left, John rolled over on his back and stared out the window. It was raining outside, and all he could see was gray.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you," he whispered. His count of the people he could've saved seemed to increase daily, and he was beginning to grow tired of it. If he saved so many people in the future, why couldn't he save people now? _You have to protect yourself before you can protect the world_, he could hear his mother saying. She was usually right, but that didn't mean he had to like what she told him.

It wasn't even that he had loved Riley. He had liked her, sure, just not in the way you're supposed to like a person. He liked her because she was real. He didn't have to worry about her malfunctioning and going on a John Connor killing frenzy. Riley was safe, and he didn't have many safe things in his life. She made him feel like a teenager again. A lot of times he felt like he completely skipped his childhood (which in all actuality he had). She was there, and so was he, so he took a chance.

There were other reasons why he started dating—if that's what you call it—Riley. He just wasn't prepared to voice, or even accept, them.

Especially not when they involved his terminator protector.

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_Sorry this chapter had no John/Cameron interaction, but I promise the next chapter will. So keep checking for updates :)_


	3. Chapter 3

John had a feeling like someone was watching him. He wasn't sure how or why, but he could feel their gaze penetrating his body. His eyes snapped open and he found Cameron staring down at him. It made him somewhat uncomfortable, especially because he was in nothing but sweat pants.

"Good morning," she said, though her voice wasn't cheery. John groaned and looked over at the clock. The bright red numbers read 4:15.

"Listen, I know you don't need sleep," John told her, "but I do." He rolled over and closed his eyes. It was silent for a few moments, which caused him to feel slightly paranoid. He opened his eyes once more and saw Cameron standing over him once again. He hadn't even heard her footsteps when she walked around the bed. For someone composed of metal, she made very little noise. He rarely heard her when she moved around the house.

"That was an invitation to leave," he mumbled. He was not, in any way, a morning person. To John's dismay, she made no attempt to leave.

"You said my name," Cameron told him. John had no idea what she was talking about and looked at her questioningly. "When you were sleeping," she clarified.

John tried to remember if he had dreamed about her, but he couldn't remember dreaming at all. It wasn't that it would be weird if he had—his dreams had been filled with images of her for months—it was just that he didn't particularly want her to know that piece of information.

"You probably just thought you heard it," he said, trying to get her to drop the subject. Not that he truly thought she would.

"I'm not programmed to make mistakes," she told him. John sighed. He should've expected that response.

"Just drop it, okay?" he asked, though it was more of a harsh command than a question. Cameron stared at him for a moment. She then blinked and cocked her head slightly to the side.

"I dream about you too," she told him and then began walking toward the door. As soon as this statement had enough time to sink in, John sat up.

"Wait," he said. "You can dream?" If she couldn't sleep, how could she dream? John's mind was spinning in a million directions. If she could dream, why did she dream about him? What kinds of dreams were they? Did she kill him? Save him? He swallowed as the next thought crossed his mind—or did she dream about him the way he dreamed about her? He doubted it.

Cameron turned around with the same blank look she always had on her face.

"Yes," she said, "I can dream."

"But how?" John asked incredulously. "You don't sleep."

Cameron walked closer to the bed and sat down near John's feet.

"I don't dream the way you do," she told him. John was getting frustrated with the lack of answers he was getting. She had woken him way to early in his—and the rest of the world's—opinion, and now he wanted something out of it.

"What does that mean?" he asked, half angry. Cameron stared out of the window straight ahead and watched the trees blowing in the wind.

"When I'm inert I see clips of jumbled up memories," she told him. "They are all of you."

_So it isn't true dreaming_, John thought. It's just her way of sorting through memories. He felt somewhat let down that she wasn't talking about the type of dreaming that he experienced.

"What kind of memories?" he asked. Cameron turned her head towards him.

"All of them," she said. John resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He never once received a straight answer from her.

Cameron surprised him by moving so that she was lying back on the bed beside him. She placed her arms behind her head and stared at the ceiling. He waited for her to speak, but she never did. For a moment they sat in silence listening to the wind and the sound of tree branches hitting the window.

"Was Riley telling the truth?" John asked. "I mean, about you and me in the future?" It had been a question he had wanted to ask for a while, but had been afraid to. However, something about her being less than an inch away from him gave him the courage to finally ask.

Cameron turned toward him as he propped himself up on his elbow and faced her, waiting for an answer.

"I don't know," she replied. "Future John erased a lot of my memories before sending me here."

John wasn't sure if he was happy or disappointed. On one hand, he had wanted it to be true. He was past denying that he felt nothing for the cyborg lying next to him. On the other hand, she _was _a terminator. Having a relationship with her would be… complicated, to say the least. Not to mention the fact that his uncle would want to kill him—but not after he had killed Cameron first.

"But can you…love?" John asked. Cameron turned her head and stared back up at the ceiling.

"I don't know," she said once again, and then slowly got up from the bed. John positioned him self so that his back was resting against the head board of his bed.

"I don't understand you most of the time," John told her. Cameron cocked her head to the side and then slowly raised her arm and touched John's shoulder lightly with her fingertips.

"Go back to sleep," she told him. "You're safe."

John was more confused than ever. Where had that come from?

"Wha—" he started, but she cut him off.

"Sweet dreams," she told him robotically, and then walked toward the door. John watched mesmerized as she opened the door and stepped out. Before she closed the door back, he could've sworn he saw her smile.

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_this story is taking a completely different direction than I had originally planned, but i like it anyways._

_review please :)  
_


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning John walked into the kitchen to find Derek sitting at the table, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. John couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Derek. Lately, he'd been pretty absent from John's life. John wasn't sure why this was, but he didn't want to ask Derek. Neither him nor his uncle were usually very talkative.

Derek looked up from the paper.

"I heard about your friend," he said. Normal people would follow this sentence with _I'm sorry_, but Derek wasn't normal. John had to take what he could get.

"Thanks," he muttered. He then proceeded to nonchalantly glance around the room, and into the part of the living room he could see from his position.

"Where's everyone else?" he asked.

Derek took a sip of his coffee.

"Sarah went out, and the machine is in the shed," he replied. He never referred to Cameron by her name. Derek hated cyborgs more than anyone John knew. John understood because of what he had gone through, but Cameron was different. Derek could at least pretend to get along with her.

John slipped quietly out of the house. As soon as he did, the cold air hit his bare arms and he shivered. His grey t-shirt offered very little protection from the cold. He folded his arms across his chest and walked toward the shed. As he walked in he noticed Cameron standing in front of a wooden table. She held a gun in her hand, and eight more sat on the table.

"What are you doing?" John asked.

Cameron loaded the gun that was in her hand and then sat it on the table with the rest before answering.

"Preparing," she said.

"For…?" John asked. Cameron picked up the next gun that was closest to her.

"Things," she replied. After loading the second gun, she walked over to a toolbox that sat in the back right corner. She rummaged through it for a few seconds before obviously finding what she was looking for. She then turned and walked over to John.

"I want you to fix me," she told him. She held out her hand and John saw that she held a knife and a pair of pliers. John shook his head and pushed her hand away.

"There's nothing wrong with you," he told her.

Cameron looked down at her hand as if she was inspecting it.

"I need you to restore my memories," she told him.

This surprised John. Never before had she wanted to go against something that Future John said or did. John didn't think she was actually capable—he thought she was programmed to obey him completely.

"What makes you think I can do that?" he asked her. It wasn't like he was experienced in that sort of thing.

Cameron looked up and stared at him intently. After a few seconds, her eyes softened.

"Please," she said. The way she spoke it sounded more like a statement than a question.

John sighed. He hated that he couldn't say no to her, but it was so hard when she was staring like that. She looked so vulnerable and human. Besides, it wasn't as if he was completely against the idea. He had been the one who asked her about it the night before.

He took the tools from her.

"Fine," he said.

Cameron's face returned to her usual blank expression.

"Thank you," she said.

John walked out of the shed, and Cameron followed closely behind. They walked through the kitchen and upstairs to John's bedroom. As they passed through the kitchen, Derek watched them, but said nothing. John, however, knew Derek would question him about it later. He knew he would have to work on an excuse. Currently, the only thing he could come up with was that she was malfunctioning. John figured it was as good as an excuse as any. How else could he explain if Derek or his mother walked in and found Cameron dormant?

As they entered John's bedroom, Cameron laid down on his bed. Slowly, John walked over and sat beside her. He clutched the tools tightly in his hand.

"It's ok," Cameron told him.

John nodded and began cutting into her head. No matter how many times he did this, he didn't think he would ever get used to it. He didn't like the idea of cutting into someone else, even if that someone was a machine. It seemed animalistic and wrong.

Once he got the cut the right size, he folded the layer of skin over. As he did, he resisted the urge to cringe.

"This could take a while," he told her. "You know you'll be unable to function for at least a few hours."

Cameron blinked.

"You'll be protected," she said. "I prepared."

_I didn't_, John thought. He didn't know how he would feel without her presence.

He grabbed the pair of pliers and began trying to remove her chip. There was a pop, and then her head slowly fell to the side. He pulled out her chip and laid it in his hand. Then, he closed her eyes with his fingers so it appeared that she was sleeping instead of dead. Already, he felt empty without her. It felt similar to the feeling when you know you've forgotten something, but you don't know what. John didn't like it at all. He closed his hand lightly around her chip and then walked over to his computer. Then, he connected the chip to a cord, and sat down. He placed his hand on the mouse and then looked over once more at Cameron.

This was going to be a long day.

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**_review please. it makes me happy :)_**


	5. Chapter 5

Three hours later, John was sitting in the same exact position at his computer. His eyes burned from staring at the computer screen, and when he looked away his vision was blurry. Although his legs ached and needed to be stretched, he didn't care. He wanted to recover Cameron's memories just as bad as she wanted him to.

He had gotten quite far for the amount of time he had been working, but in his opinion it wasn't enough. He'd accessed her main memories, but still could not gain access to her locked ones. It turned out that Future-John hadn't truly erased her memories; he'd just hidden them somewhere within her chip. Apparently, he didn't want her to completely forget.

There was a knock on the door and John quickly exited out of the screen he had been staring at. His mom entered without waiting for him to answer.

"John, where—" her eyes focused on the deactivated Cameron. "What are you doing?" she asked in a reproving voice.

John blinked to attempt to clear his vision so that he could focus on Sarah.

"She was malfunctioning," he stated simply, and silently prayed that his lying skills had improved.

Sarah looked at him questioningly.

"How?" she asked.

_Damn_, John thought. He hadn't thought about the details of his lie past the part about Cameron malfunctioning.

"She was saying weird things," he blurted, because it was the first thing that came to his mind.

"She always says weird things," Sarah replied, still skeptical.

"Weirder than normal," John said, his eyes darkening slightly. He wanted her to leave him alone so he could get back to his task. Recently he had been feeling like Sarah trusted him less and less, and it made him angry. He was her son, after all.

Sarah's eyes flicked back and forth between John and Cameron. Finally, she sighed.

"How long will it take?" she asked, concerned not for Cameron, but for the protection she offered.

"I don't know," he told his mom. At least that part wasn't a lie.

"Fine," Sarah said. "But we need her."

John nodded. He knew they needed her. If it wasn't for her, they all would've been dead a long time ago.

Sarah took one last glance at Cameron before leaving John's room. John couldn't tell for sure, but he thought he saw fear in her eyes.

_Maybe she relies on Cameron more than she realizes_, John thought. He turned back to his computer and began typing furiously. He got back to the screen where he had been previously and stared, hoping for an answer to come to him. Instead, what he got was access to a password lock set on Cameron's hidden memories.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked. Encrypted codes he could solve easily, but figuring out a password? That could take hours, maybe even days. He did not have that kind of time. Obviously, the password had been set by his future self, so he had an advantage there. But many years had passed between present John and future John—the password could be anything.

He tried the obvious—his name, Cameron's name, his mom and dad's name, places he grew up, his favorite things—but nothing was a match. He grew more and more frustrated, and finally gave up. He didn't know what else to try.

A loud gunshot came from downstairs and John heard his mom yell his name. He stood up quickly and grabbed the gun that always sat on his desk. Then, he ran downstairs where he found his mom crouched beneath an open window, a gun clutched tightly in her hand.

"What's going on?" he asked, apparently too loudly because his mom shushed him.

"Derek is on watch," she whispered, "he called to say there is a machine approaching."

"What?" John asked incredulously. Of course this happened now, when Cameron could do nothing. That was just his luck. He looked out the window and saw a figure approaching in the distance. Quickly, he pulled out a gun and aimed, his finger pressing lightly against the trigger. Beside him, Sarah stood up.

"No," she whispered and pushed his gun down. "It's Derek."

John loosened his grip on the gun as he watched the approaching dark figure take on the form of his uncle. Derek sprinted to the front door and entered the house, slamming the door behind him. His breathing was ragged, and he bent over, resting his hands on his knees.

"How long?" Sarah asked.

"A minute," Derek answered between breaths, "maybe two."

Sarah nodded firmly and moved slightly to the right to get a better shot from the window. As she did, the piece of the floorboard beneath her right foot moved out of place.

"What the—" Derek asked as Sarah bent down to inspect it. She found that beneath the wooden plank was a stash of grenades.

"Who put them there?" she asked. Both Derek and John shook their heads.

_Cameron really did prepare_, John thought. Just as Sarah was giving each of them a single grenade, John saw movement out of the corner of his eye.

"He's here," he whispered.

Sarah motioned for him to get down, and he did. His could hear his heart pounding in his ears, and for a moment forgot to breathe. The cyborg got closer and closer until John could finally make out more than just an outline. The machine had taken on the form of a middle-aged, muscular man with tan skin and tattoos completely covering his left arm.

"Now!" Derek yelled and the three of them threw their grenades. They ducked as a loud bang followed immediately by two more sounded.

_That won't be suspicious at all._

John slowly rose up to peer out the window. The entire front yard was covered in smoke, and not even the shed was visible. Derek and Sarah both stood up, their eyes silently questioning if they were safe or not.

Together, the three of them remained staring out the window. No cyborg appeared out of the thinning smoke, and John figured the grenades had worked.

"I'll go check," Derek said and he walked cautiously out the door. For what seem liked an hour—but was really only three minutes—John and Sarah stared at the place where the cyborg had been.

Finally, the front door opened to reveal Derek holding a slightly charred chip. Sarah sighed in relief and lightly squeezed John's shoulder.

"Go upstairs," she told him. "We'll deal with everything else,"

Normally, John would've refused—he knew she was sending him upstairs in an effort to protect him, and he didn't need her to protect him—but he really wanted to get back to Cameron. A big part of him needed to make sure she was okay.

He walked upstairs and entered his room to find Cameron in the same spot he had left her in. He walked over and sat beside her on the bed.

"Thanks," he whispered and stroked her hair gently. "You're always…" he trailed off and moved his hand away from her. "…there for me," he finished. Then, realizing he was basically talking to himself, he stood up. He was crazy for having feelings like this for something that wasn't human. It wasn't…natural. But then again, nothing about his life had been very natural. His father was from the future, and he was now from the past. Nothing about his life made much sense. John guessed that life in general didn't make sense—even to someone who wasn't the savior of mankind. In that way, maybe sometimes the unnatural became the natural.

After all, Riley had said it herself: _Just because Cameron is a machine doesn't mean she can't feel love._

_

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_

**personally, this is my favorite chapter.**

**let me know what you think :)  
**


	6. Chapter 6

He was standing in the middle of a burned field. All around him were scorched parts of metal, wood, and other unidentifiable materials. As far as he could see, he was the only life form present. It was if the entire population, buildings and all, had burned to the ground.

"John," a voice whispered from behind him. He turned, and found that Cameron had appeared less than a foot away from him.

"Cameron?" he asked. "What happened here?"

Cameron looked around the desolate area.

"You don't know?" she asked.

How could he? He didn't even know where the hell he was.

Cameron turned back to him.

"This is Judgment Day," she stated. As soon as she spoke, John noticed that a group of terminators appeared in a line in the distance behind her. Their red eyes stared at him, but they didn't move. John looked at Cameron, but she appeared unperturbed. Either she hadn't noticed the terminators, or she didn't care.

"John!"

John spun around. His mother and Derek stood behind him, with identical looks of concern on their faces.

"You can't trust her!" Derek called. "She's a machine!"

John stared at them for a moment and then turned back to Cameron. She cocked her head to the side as if she was asking what he was going to do with that particular bit of information. John looked past her to the terminators who appeared to be waiting for something.

"They're waiting for you, aren't they?" he asked her. "You're one of _them_."

Cameron nodded.

"Yes," she stated.

John looked down at the charred ground.

"So go," he said forcibly.

Cameron made no attempt to leave.

"It's my mission to protect you," she said.

John looked up.

"Then I'll erase your mission details," he told her. "You can go back to them," he nodded in the direction of the terminators. Cameron glanced behind her before turning back to John.

"I don't want to," she said. "I like being human."

_She can't want to do anything_, John thought, _and she's not human_.

"I don't operate the way you think I do," she told him as if she had read his mind. Where had he heard that before?

"John!" his mother called. He felt himself being pulled toward her against his will. He looked to Cameron for help, but she seemed to be in the same predicament. The distance between her and the terminators was rapidly decreasing.

"Cameron!" he called and tried to walk towards her.

"John!" she called back, and reached out towards him. After struggling for a few moments, she gave up and let herself be pulled backwards.

"I love you!" she called.

John opened his mouth to yell back when a hand clasped his shoulder. He jerked slightly and then suddenly there was a bright light in front of him. He blinked several times and discovered that the light was coming from his computer. He was in his room, and had apparently fallen asleep trying to discover the password.

"What the hell is that?" a deep voice asked. John jumped slightly. He looked behind him and saw Derek standing over him staring at the computer screen. Derek sighed.

"She's not really malfunctioning, is she?"

John ran his fingers through his hair. He knew someone would figure it out eventually.

"I'm trying to unlock her memories from before she was sent here," John said. Derek scoffed.

"All you'll see is her killing people," he said. "That's what they do."

John chose to ignore his statement. Arguing with Derek never got him anywhere. Instead, John turned back to his computer screen.

"You're trying to figure out a password?" Derek asked.

John nodded.

"Future John set it," he said. "I've tried everything I know about myself, but nothing's worked."

Derek closed his eyes and rubbed his right temple.

"Did you try Alison?" he asked, as if he regretted what he was speaking.

"Alison?" John asked. "Who's th—"

"Just try it," Derek barked.

John sighed, frustrated, but typed in "Alison." When he pressed enter, a flashing box came up that read "Access Granted" in bright green letters.

He turned to Derek. How had he known?

Derek pointed at the screen. John watched as it showed flashes of what were apparently Cameron's memories. John guessed that because of the damage Cameron had suffered from the explosion a few months ago, parts of her memories had been completely lost.

He stared at the computer screen and saw a girl sitting at a metal table, a light shining in her face. She looked like Cameron, but he knew it wasn't her. Her eyes didn't look empty like Cameron's frequently did.

"What's your name?" A robotic voice asked. It was the owner of the voice's memories that John was viewing.

"Why should I tell you?" the girl asked. There was some static, and John watched as the girl screamed in pain.

"Alison!" she yelled. "Alison Young!"

More static.

Alison again sat at the metal table. The screen focused on a shiny, silver bracelet she was wearing.

"What's that bracelet on your arm?" the voice asked.

"My sister gave it to me on my birthday," Alison answered.

Static again.

"You're very brave," the voice said, only this time it was no longer robotic. The voice matched the voice of Alison, only it held less emotion. "That must be why John Connor chose you,"

There were flashes of men being shot and then burned, and then the screen returned to Alison.

"You lied to me," the voice said. "We found these on some of your friends." John watched as a hand dropped five metal bracelets on the table.

"It's a pass to get into the camp," she said. "You were going to send me there without it," the voice paused. "They would've known what I was."

An arm reached out and grabbed Alison by the neck.

"I'll never help you get to John Connor," Alison said in a forced whisper. John heard a crack and then Alison's head fell backwards. She was released and then fell to the floor. The screen moved and John watched as it passed a slate of metal. In it, he saw the face of Alison—only this time, her eyes were empty.

"Turn it off," Derek told him. John was in too much shock to comply, so Derek reached over him and turned off the monitor.

"I told you she couldn't be trusted," he muttered.

John snapped out of it and stood up to face Derek.

"You knew?" he practically yelled. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why does it matter?" Derek muttered and then walked to the door. "Alison is dead—killed by a machine." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Just like they all were."

John walked over and stood in front of the door before Derek could reach it.

"You knew Alison," he said. "Tell me how."

"Get out of my way," Derek said. He tried to push past him, but John wouldn't let him.

"I have a right to know," John demanded. Derek backed up a few steps.

"Fine," he said.

"You found Alison in a tunnel the day after Judgment Day. She was badly wounded, and you took care of her. From that day on, she never left your side. You trained her in combat, and she became your confident. She knew everything there is to know about John Connor," he sighed. "That's all I know."

John stepped away from the door.

"And Cameron?" he asked.

Derek shook his head.

"All I know is that she came to the camp, and we all thought she was Alison," he looked over at Cameron. "Then one day she put a gun to your head."

"How did I stop her from killing me?" John asked.

"One of the guys tasered her, and you took her chip out and reprogrammed it," Derek replied. "From that day on, none of us trusted her." He stared at John.

"But you always did." He looked disdainful. "Pretty soon, you got tired of defending her, so you stopped communicating with us. There was just you and the machine, locked in the technical room. When you did have a message for us, she delivered it."

_So Riley was telling the truth_, John thought.

Derek took one last long glance at Cameron.

"Why do you care about her?" he asked John. "She's not human."

"Maybe not," John said. "But she wants to be,"

Derek scoffed.

"You trust too easily," he said. "Just like Kyle." He opened the now unguarded door, and walked out. Once he was gone, John walked over and turned the monitor back on. He still had more questions he needed answers to.

* * *

_**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It took me forever to write because I had to go back and watch Alison from Palmdale again to get the dialogue right.**_

_**anyways, review please :)  
**_


	7. Chapter 7

It was the day Alison Young returned to the main camp of the resistance fighters. The screen showed two men guarding the entrance to what looked like a complex series of tunnels.

"I need to see your I.D.," the one on the left said. He had a large gun that was clutched tightly against his chest.

"Of course," Alison's voice said, and an arm was raised to show the shiny, silver band.

The man on the left inspected it then nodded to the man on the right, who moved out of the way. John guessed that the guard on the left was the leader, but the guy on the right was definitely more of a "guard." He was at least six and a half feet tall, and looked as if he spent his entire day doing push-ups.

"You're to report to John Connor immediately," the man on the left said. The screen moved up and down as if nodding, and then the cyborg walked through the entrance. She turned around quickly.

"Sorry, but where is he again?" she asked. "I keep forgetting."

The large guard looked skeptical, but answered her anyway. It probably helped that Alison was a girl. As far as John knew, there weren't many women resistance fighters.

"Take your first left, second right, left again, and then walk straight ahead."

"Thanks," the cyborg replied in a cheery voice.

Static.

"Alison?" the man on the screen asked. John instantly knew the man was his future-self. He looked mostly the same, just older and with more scars and lines on his face.

"What happened?" Future-John asked. "You were gone for so long."

"I was kidnapped by Skynet, but I escaped," she said. Future John took a step back.

"No one ever escapes," he told her. The robot paused for a moment.

"I did," she stated.

Future-John looked as if he wanted to approach her, but was debating it in his head.

"Did they do anything to you?" he asked.

The screen shook back and forth.

"They just asked questions," she said. "I didn't tell them anything."

Static.

"Alison, what are you doing?" A man's voice asked. John couldn't tell who it was because the screen was focused on his future self and the gun that was pointed to his head.

"Killing John Connor," she stated robotically. John heard the click of a gun being cocked.

"She's a cyborg!" Future-John yelled and there was a clamor, along with a loud buzzing noise. The screen started to go black, but John could still hear faint voices.

"How'd you know?" an unrecognizable voice asked.

"No one ever escapes," was the only reply he received in return.

And then there was complete silence.

The screen came back to life and showed the image of Future-John. Behind him were all sorts of wires and machines.

"Do you know who you are?" he asked.

"Cameron Phillips," Alison's voice answered without emotion. Future John nodded.

"And your mission?" he asked. There was a short pause, and Future-John looked slightly worried.

"To protect John Connor," Cameron stated.

Static.

The screen showed the same room before, but this time pictures were hung up on the walls. John noticed they all seemed to be of him or people that had been involved in his life. There was one of him with his foster parents, one of his mom and dad, one of Derek, one of Charlie, and others of people John didn't recognize.

"When are you sending me back?" Cameron asked. She was staring at Future-John sorting through a stack of papers that he held in his hand.

"Soon," he answered distractedly.

"What if I don't want to go?" Cameron asked. Future-John stopped what he was doing and turned around.

"Cameron..." he said, "we've had this conversation before."

"You need protection," Cameron stated. Future-John sighed.

"I'll have protection," he told her. "I have a whole army of soldiers that follow my every command."

The screen moved down to where it showed Cameron's hands in her lap.

"Don't worry about me," Future-John said. "I'll be fine."

Static.

"It's time," Future-John said as he entered what John presumed was Cameron's room. Cameron had, apparently, been lying on her bed staring at the ceiling. She immediately got up and followed him to the room with all the machines.

"Sit down," he said and gestured to a chair that sat in the middle of the room. She did so, and looked up at him.

"You need me to stay," she said, though it sounded more like a plea. Future-John shook his head and smiled sadly.

"You're so much like Alison," he breathed.

"Did you love her?" Cameron asked bluntly. He looked away distractedly.

"I did once," he replied. "A long time ago."

"I don't understand," Cameron said. Future-John sighed and grabbed a pair of pliers off a nearby metal table.

"Alison knew how to jump through time. She wanted to know what the Savior of Mankind was like as a teenager. So, when I was seventeen, she moved to our neighborhood," he paused. "I had no idea she was from the future."

"Then, about a year later, she disappeared. The next time I saw her was six months ago," he said. "Then, she explained everything."

"Everything?" Cameron asked. John nodded.

"She said her father worked on creating the time machines, and one day she stole a prototype. She said she just wanted to escape from reality for a little while. She never expected to fall for me."

"Why'd she go back to the future?" Cameron asked. Future-John finally turned around to face her.

"Because sooner or later, everyone always goes back."

The screen shook back and forth.

"I don't understand love," Cameron said. Future-John smiled slightly and turned around to grab a surgical knife.

"You will," he said. "Once you go back to the past."

Cameron was silent, obviously confused. Future-John turned back around.

"My past self, my teenage self, will fall in love with you," he told her. "It's why I choose you to protect me."

John nearly jumped away from the computer screen. Cameron voiced the question he internally asked.

"How do you know?"

Future-John walked towards her.

"Because you're Alison, just less..." he trailed off.

"Human?" Cameron finished for him. Future-John chose not to answer and knelt beside her.

"I'm going to erase some of your memories," he told her. Because Cameron trusted him, she didn't question him. Not on that matter, at least.

"Will I love him back?" she asked. Future-John looked up at her for a few moments before answering.

"Yes," he said, "but it will be a different kind of love."

"How will I know when I love him?"

Future-John placed a hand on her arm.

"You just will."

There was a large amount of static and then the screen went completely blank. John guessed that he had just seen the last of Cameron's memories. He felt like over the past few hours he had had one of those out-of-body experiences. It was weird watching the person you were supposed to become, but knowing nothing about them. What was even weirder was watching someone else's memories.

He had received answers, at least. Cameron could definitely love. According to Future-John, she was supposed to love him. John hated how hopeful he was that this was true.

The whole Alison situation was less clear. John knew that time-traveling put everything on a different time line, so in his world she probably didn't exist. If she did, however, it was highly unlikely they would ever meet. Not that he wanted to meet her. In fact, he planned to avoid it at all costs. Having two Camerons (or Alisons, depending on the way you looked at it) would be way too confusing.

John unplugged Cameron's chip from his computer and gripped it tightly in his hand. He walked over to his bed and sat down cautiously.

Cameron looked so peaceful. John didn't think he'd seen anything more beautiful. Her brown hair fell in waves around her face, and John brushed them back behind her ear. He had an urge to kiss her forehead, but stopped himself. Hopefully, there would be time for that later.

He used the pliers that were still on his bed to insert her chip back into the side of her head. He twisted it until it locked in place and then leaned back, waiting for her to awake. His fingertips lightly rested on the back of her left hand.

After ten seconds, her eyes opened.

"Welcome back," John said. Cameron looked at him in a way he hadn't seen before. It was unlike her because it was a way that seemed to be filled with emotion.

"You fixed me," she replied, and then smiled at him.

* * *

_**cliffhanger!...yeah, I know I'm mean :P**_

**_you know what to do_  
**


	8. Chapter 8

"What's your mission?" John asked, moving his hand away from hers. He was quite confident in his abilities, but there was still a chance he had messed something up with her chip.

Cameron stared at him.

"To protect John Connor," she stated, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. To her, he figured it most likely was.

"Run a diagnostic," he ordered.

Cameron's mouth formed a tight line, but she remained unmoving.

"All systems are functioning normally," she said after a few moments.

John stood up.

"Good," he said. Then, his expression softened. "Welcome back," he told her.

Cameron sat up in the bed so that her back was resting against the headboard.

"Thank you," she said. "I remember everything now."

John shook his head.

"Not everything," he told her. "Some of your chip was badly damaged."

"I remember enough," Cameron amended. "Future-John gave me two missions."

_Two missions?_, John wondered. He had watched all of her memories, but didn't hear or see anything about another mission. What was she talking about?

"Your only mission is to protect me," he told her. Maybe he _had_ done something wrong to her chip.

Cameron blinked.

"My second mission is to fall in love with you," she stated.

John swallowed hard, and found him self unable to answer.

"_Am_ I in love with you?" she asked bluntly.

_Cameron was definitely not like other girls_, John thought. _Not at all_.

"I don't know," John said finally.

Cameron looked around his room absentmindedly.

"What does love feel like?" she asked.

John sighed and sat back down on his bed. He ran his fingers nervously through his hair. How the hell was he supposed to explain the concept of love to a robot?

"When you love someone, you'd do anything for them—no matter what," he looked down at the floor. "You'd die for them without thinking twice about it."

Cameron stared at him curiously, expecting more.

"If they did happen to die, you wish that you had died with them," he paused. "Because living without the person you love isn't really living at all."

Cameron nodded.

"Thank you for explaining," she said.

John smirked.

"Anytime," he muttered.

Cameron moved towards John.

"Do you wish that you were dead now?" she asked him.

John didn't know what she was talking about, so he stared at her.

"Riley is dead," she told him.

John's face relaxed into realization.

"I didn't love her," he told her.

"Oh," Cameron said, sounding indifferent. "Good."

John looked at her, not sure what to think.

"Cam—" he started, but was cut off by the sound of his mother's voice from downstairs.

"John!"

John's head snapped toward the door. He stood up at the same time that a tall, Hispanic man kicked down his bedroom door with amazing force. In his hand he held a small handgun. He pulled the trigger as John stared at him, surprised. The bullet flew towards John and collided with the right side of his lower abdomen. As Cameron jumped up from the bed, John fell backwards on the floor with a loud thud.

Swiftly, Cameron walked over to the man and pushed him in the chest. He flew backwards into the hall and collided with the wall. The gun flew out of his hand.

Cameron picked the gun up and shot him twice between his eyes. It stunned him just long enough for her to be able to kick him down the stairs. She followed him, her footsteps making no noise as she walked down the stairs. As she took the last step, his head snapped up and he grabbed her ankle. She crashed to the floor and he rolled over and pinned her to the ground. He began punching her repeatedly with his right fist. Finally, Cameron caught his wrist in mid-punch. She pushed him off of her and jumped to her feet.

"Cameron!" Sarah's voice called from the right side of the room. She lay on the floor, and had obviously just regained consciousness. In her hand she held a grenade that she had obtained from underneath the floorboard. Sarah threw the grenade to Cameron who caught it in one fluid movement.

Cameron then rammed the grenade into the chest of the man. Sarah ran to the door, threw it open, and then watched as Cameron kicked the man at least a hundred feet out the door. The grenade went off and the man fell to the ground, defeated. Cameron stared at the charred bits of flesh and metal before turning and walking up the stairs.

"Where's John?" Sarah asked in a worried voice. When Cameron didn't respond she followed the cyborg up to John's room.

John lay on the floor beside his bed clutching his side. A small pool of blood had formed beside him, and his shirt was stained different shades of red.

"John," Sarah whispered. She seemed unable to move.

Cameron, on the other hand, walked over to him and knelt down. John's face was twisted in pain and his breathing was shallow. Cameron took off her jacket and tied it around John's abdomen.

"He needs to go to the hospital," Cameron said.

This seemed to snap Sarah out of her trance. She shook her head furiously.

"No," she said. "No hospitals."

"He'll die," Cameron stated.

"You can fix him," Sarah said harshly. "I know you can."

Cameron glanced at John who looked at her with helpless eyes. He knew she couldn't fix him. She wasn't programmed for that.

"He's dying," Cameron said. She effortlessly picked John up off the floor and carried him in her arms.

"What are you doing?" Sarah asked.

Cameron brushed past her.

"I'm protecting John Connor," she said.

Sarah followed Cameron downstairs and watched as the machine placed her son in the backseat of the truck.

"I won't let him die," Cameron told Sarah before climbing into the driver's side. Sarah was about to open the passenger door when Cameron sped off.

"I failed," Cameron told John once they got on the highway. "I didn't protect you."

John moaned in pain.

"Not…your…fault," he managed to force out. He was just as surprised by the attack as she had been. No part of him blamed her.

Cameron glanced back at him. He could tell she was analyzing his injuries by the glazed look in her eyes.

"You've lost too much blood," she stated, voicing the concern he had had for the past five minutes. "You have a low chance of survival."

_Well, that's comforting_, John thought. Oddly enough, it was. Somehow spending his last moments with Cameron being Cameron made his death seem less terrifying.

"John?" Cameron asked suddenly.

John grunted in acknowledgement of her question.

"If you don't survive, would they remove my chip and burn it?"

It took a moment for the true intentions of her words to dawn on him. She was telling him that if he died, she wanted to die too. With her chipped burned, she would cease to exist. Under no circumstances could she be re-created.

John felt the world slipping away and his vision became dark and cloudy.

"I love you too," he whispered before his eyes closed.


	9. Chapter 9

There was a dull pain in his right side and a beeping noise coming from somewhere beside him. Slowly his eyes fluttered open and he found his mom looking down at him with a pained expression. She sat on the side of his hospital bed clutching his hand tightly.

"How did he find me?" John choked out. His throat felt sore for reasons unknown to him.

"He wasn't looking for you," his mom explained. "He was tracking Cameron."

"Cameron?" John questioned. It was a weird feeling to know that for once he wasn't the one intended to be killed.

Sarah nodded.

"Somehow he knew when you connected her chip to your computer," she said. "He tracked the computer to our house."

John looked away from her.

"We're moving again, aren't we?" He muttered.

Sarah smiled the way she did when she was trying to make him feel better. Usually it didn't work, but John always made her believe that it did.

"Don't worry about it," she told him. "You're safe, so that's all that matters."

"No one's ever safe," John replied and Sarah's smile instantly dropped.

She looked in the direction of the door.

"Cameron wants to see you," she told him. "She's outside keeping watch."

John nodded and Sarah walked toward the door. Before she reached for the handle, she turned around.

"I understand now," she told him.

John gave her a confused look.

"What?" he asked.

"I won't always be here for you," she told him, looking down. Then, she sighed and looked up. "But she will." John noticed that Sarah's eyes were wet with unshed tears.

"Mom…"

Sarah shook her head to wordlessly tell him that she would be fine.

"I'll go get Cameron," she said. She opened the door and walked out, leaving John alone.

A few moments later Cameron walked in. John noticed that the atmosphere immediately felt awkward and he had no idea what to say. She walked over to him and stood beside the bed. John pushed himself up so that he was in an upright position.

"Thanks for saving me," he said finally.

Cameron touched the back of his hand with her fingertips.

"I can't exist without you," she replied.

"Well, considered I practically created you, no you can't," John said, half-smiling.

Cameron didn't respond.

"That was a joke," he told her. Apparently she still hadn't developed a sense of humor.

"Oh," Cameron said simply and sat down on the bed. She placed his hand, palm facing up, in her lap and began tracing the lines on his hand.

"What are you doing?" he asked her. His heart was racing and he was sincerely afraid that the machine beeping beside him would show it.

"Touching you," Cameron said. She looked up at him. "Do you want me to stop?"

John swallowed and shook his head. Cameron dropped her head again and resumed her previous action.

"It's what people in love do," she explained.

"Thanks for explaining," John said.

Cameron stopped tracing circles and simply placed her hand in his.

"Was that a joke?" she asked him.

John smirked.

"Yes," he told her.

"It was funny," she replied, but her expression remained serious.

"You know," John said leaning toward her, "usually when people find something funny, they laugh."

Cameron cocked her head to the side for a moment and then instantly began giggling. John was surprised for a moment but then found himself mesmerized by her. Her eyes lit up as she laughed and he didn't think he'd ever seen anything more beautiful. He smiled at her, her happiness contagious.

When her giggles finally subsided John squeezed her hand.

"You should laugh more," he told her.

Cameron smiled slightly.

"Yes," she agreed.

John sighed.

"So where do you think we'll be moving next?" he asked. Every time he got used to a place, they had to move again. It was a never-ending cycle that, personally, he hated.

"I don't know," Cameron said. She lay back on the bed beside him and he moved over to make room. She rolled over on her side and placed her head on his chest.

"Does it matter?" she asked him.

"Now?" John asked. "Not really." He was afraid that in moments he would wake up and find that this was another one of his dreams. This, however, felt so much more real.

John looked up and found his mom staring at them through the tiny, rectangular window in the door. She was smiling sadly. They locked eyes and Sarah nodded, giving him silent permission.

"What happens if we defeat Skynet?" John asked Cameron. "Will you…disappear?"

Cameron didn't respond immediately and John began to question whether or not she would at all.

"Future-John once told me it's better to have love and lost than never to have loved at all," she told him robotically, as if she was reading off of something.

"He was talking about Alison?" John asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Yes," Cameron stated. "About Alison."

The door to the hospital room opened and Sarah walked in.

"We need to go," she whispered harshly.

Both Cameron and John immediately sat up. Cameron carefully removed the I.V. from John's arm and then took his hand to help him stand up. He found that his side hurt worse when he was standing, but it wasn't unbearable. The doctors had done a good job.

He grabbed his clothes from beside the bed and quickly put them on.

"Is someone looking for us?" John whispered to his mother. Sarah shook her head.

"I just don't want to be here longer than we have to," she told him.

John nodded and the three of them walked swiftly to the entrance of the stairs. Cameron went first to check if the way was clear. She nodded to them and they walked down two flights to the lobby. Luckily, the only people in the lobby were the receptionist and a little girl with her mother.

Avoiding all eye contact, they walked outside where Derek was waiting with the truck. Sarah jumped in the passenger side, and John and Cameron got in the back.

"Go," Sarah told him, and he sped off.

John intertwined his hand with Cameron's at the same time that Derek glanced back to check on him.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked, looking at their hands.

"Keep your eyes on the road!" Sarah commanded.

Derek's eyes narrowed as he turned back around.

"You approve of this?" he asked incredulously. "She's one of _them_."

"She's also saved all of our lives more than once," Sarah told him. "Can you say the same thing for them?"

Derek didn't reply and his lips formed a thin line.

"You know she's different," John said.

Derek scoffed.

"Yeah," he replied sarcastically.

John sighed in a frustrated manner.

"Just give her a chance," he told Derek.

Derek didn't respond, but his shoulders became less tense.

"Where to?" he asked Sarah.

"The house," Sarah responded. "We'll get our supplies and then we'll go."

Derek nodded.

"The house it is."

* * *

_**The next chapter will be the last one.**_

_**I hope you've enjoyed this story so far :)  
**_


	10. Chapter 10

"I still don't trust her," Derek said as he watched his nephew and the machine load boxes of supplies into the truck.

"I know you don't," Sarah replied. "But John…" she sighed, "I've never seen him happier."

"Yeah, until she blows his head off," Derek muttered.

Sarah glared at him.

"Okay, okay," he said. "I'll give her a chance."

He watched as John and Cameron walked back into the house to gather more supplies.

"You know," John told Cameron as they walked up the stairs, "It's a good thing we're still going to use the whole home schooling thing as our cover."

"Why?" Cameron asked.

John smirked.

"Because," he said, "I'm pretty sure I couldn't pretend you were my sister."

Cameron smiled slightly but didn't respond. She was the first to enter John's bedroom.

The blood from John's gunshot wound was still on the floor, but John ignored it and sat down on the other side of his bed.

"I'm really going to miss this room," he told Cameron as she came to sit beside him. There was something different about this house than all the other ones they had lived in. He was sad to be leaving it.

"It's not good to become attached to things," Cameron replied, but she did so halfheartedly.

"I'm attached to you," John replied.

Cameron nodded.

"Yes," she said.

"Is that bad?" John questioned.

Cameron stared at him for a moment, contemplating.

"Yes," she said finally, "It means Skynet can use me to get to you."

"And what if I told you that I don't care?" John asked. He wasn't about to let her go, not after all that had recently happened between them.

"I'm a danger to you," she told him sadly. "I should leave."

John grabbed her hand.

"I won't let you," he told her.

Cameron looked down at their intertwined hands. Her face formed an expression similar to awe.

"I won't try," she said.

John used his index finger to tilt her head up to look at him. Then, with the back of his hand he grazed her cheek. Cameron's eyes fluttered open and shut for a quick moment in a very human-like movement. John's body involuntarily leaned towards her until he realized he was inches away from her face. His breathing had slowed and he realized that he couldn't feel her breath. Her eyes stared at him with a childlike curiosity before he touched his lips to hers. She didn't respond and he briefly wondered if she could even feel the kiss. He began to pull away, but her hand tightened around his and he leaned forward once again. This time, his lips touched hers with more force, mostly because he was feeling a desperate need to discover exactly what her lips felt like. He was surprised when she kissed him back, and that she was actually good at it—_really_ _good_, in fact. His hand found her hair and he twisted a strand of it around his finger. Her free hand rested lightly on his forearm, and he found that he never wanted her to stop touching him. He was definitely and undeniably attached.

John broke away because he had forgotten to breathe and was in desperate need of air.

"That felt good," Cameron told him, bringing her fingers to her lips. She ran her fingertips across her bottom lip.

John smiled at how 'Cameron' her statement was.

"You're happy," Cameron noted.

John nodded.

"I think I am too," she said, a smile forming on her face. "Happiness…" she said pondering, "Is a very good thing."

John shook his head and laughed.

"Yeah," he said, "I guess it is."

He got up from the bed and began packing his computer and accessories into a cardboard box. He knew his mom and Derek would be looking for him soon.

Cameron walked over and helped him place things in the box.

"If we defeat Skynet, we'll both disappear," she stated.

John looked up at her questioningly.

"Your father won't be able to come from the future, and I will never exist," she explained.

_Did she have to bring this up now?_ John wondered. This wasn't something he wanted to think about. Besides, maybe that wouldn't happen. They would never know until that day came.

"It's better to have love and lost than never to have loved at all," John said, a repeat of the quote she had told him earlier that day.

Cameron placed her hand on top of his as he rested it on the edge of the box.

"I love you, John, and you love me?" she asked.

John smiled.

"Yeah," he told her.

She lifted her hand off of his and placed a cord in the box.

"Mission completed," she whispered.

* * *

**_The end!_**

**_Sorry it took me so long to update, I just hate ending stories._**

**_I'm contemplating writing a sequel and--more likely than not--I will. If not, I'll definitely be doing a few John/Cameron oneshots._**

**_Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it :)  
_**


	11. Author's Note: Sequel

**I finally started on a sequel to this story. It's called "Together We Will Live Forever"**

**I would love if you would read it & comment :)**

**Thanks again for everyone's support for this story. It really means a lot to me.  
**


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